Open Studio
Open Studio
URL = http://openstudio.media.mit.edu/
Description
"OPENSTUDIO is web + art + community + economics. It is an open-ended experiment that couples a very simple drawing tool with an economy of artists, curators, collectors, dealers and viewers. Members can create and modify drawings, set prices and licenses, exchange and exhibit work, view financial records, and commission one another. It is a conceptual foundation from which we’re continuing to develop further work in creative tools, collaboration, licenses, participatory media, law, and trust."
On the homepage it says that Openstudio is an “Experiment in Creativity, Collaboration and Capitalism”. That is an interesting statement since the c-word (the latter) is rarely so openly used in conjunction with art. What is your current assessment of how the art world works and where is it flawed in your opinion?
Amber: OPENSTUDIO is not intended as a direct critique of the existing art world, although it does loosely mimic a ‘real’ economic system. In the physical realm, art dealers and galleries determine the value of most works of art. It is flat, so the community determines the value of the drawings. Over time people learn what sells and what doesn’t without institutional mediation. You can also build on the work of others. When you buy a piece of work, you can buy the right to use it as the basis for a new drawing. You can buy a piece and modify it and save it as your own. Each piece retains its history, which promotes collaboration in a way that is not necessarily encouraged in the physical art world. In this way, OS plays with formalizing the act of appropriation inherent in digital works of art." ([1])